Why does my listing tell US buyers they HAVE to pay tariffs, even though I pay and clear in advance?
Summary: eBay sellers, particularly from Canada, express frustration over the platform's policy of telling buyers they will have to pay tariffs, despite sellers pre-paying these fees. pop-art questions the legality and feasibility of changing the wording to "may," and marnotom! suggests legal reasons for the existing wording. Other participants, like phc64 and hansatrade, complain that eBay's message scares off buyers and request more accurate indications of tariff payments in listings. dhslk criticizes the impact on sales and the inaccuracies in eIS shipping options. Participants discuss alternative solutions and express a desire for eBay to provide clearer, more accurate information to buyers regarding tariff responsibilities.
So even though I take care of all the paperwork and the fees - eBay still tells prospective buyers they WILL have to pay extra tariffs. Is it even legal for them to be doing that? Can our ebay reps lobby to at least change the wording to MAY? or how about have a Zonos check box? I mean come on. Help us out. I mean not even help. Just let us tell buyers that tariffs are paid and the item is pre-cleared?
jtg204
·3 months agoIt's now showing the import fee on the listing page itself now when non-EIS options are selected...
marnotom!
·3 months agoDoes clicking the "i" button lead to any clarifying information?
jtg204
·3 months agoIt just gives the prepay vs on delivery difference.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·3 months agoI didn't see that on my listings (I checked on on the dot com site in the other store, this store doesn't usually ship to the US as it is). It does say the buyer will have to pay.
It's hogwash, more than half my stuff is tariff free (I ship with Stallion to ensure tariff free stuff goes tariff free with the right HTS code and no surprise to the buyer). However under 9704 HTS it's supposed to be without tariffs and Stallion is charging them, and gave me a link to some broker to show that tariffs are applicable on 9704, but if I shipped with Canada Post I wouldn't have to pay them (but buyers would wait 3-4 weeks for delivery instead of the 7-10 days it's taking now).
C.
dhslk
·3 months agoIn the screenshot, you can see that the buyer is shown a ridiculously high total for the eIS option, and a 'WILL' have to pay tariffs for the CanadaPost option (even though I am eating the 10% plus fees tariff).
dhslk
·3 months ago · EditedI am absolutely SICK of ebay LYING to customers about having to pay tariffs COD. They KNOW that CanadaPost will not ship unless tariffs are paid during the label purchase process. They have not provided any viable mechanism for buyers to pay the tariff via ebay (which is what should be done during the checkout process, since it's a straight 10% across the board for postal items), so they should at least put a statement that CanadaPost shipments are tariff included in the purchase price.
I have lost so many sales because the buyer trusts ebay's statement of WILL have to pay over my reassurances that they will not. And that's just the buyers who contact me about the issue. And it doesn't help that, when eIS is also showing as an option, the shipping/import fees are insane and scare the buyer into thinking that's the sort of COD bill they will get.
pop-art
OP3 months agoThat screen shot is nuts... The customer is getting screwed and we are losing sales.
marnotom!
·3 months agoYou seem to be offering flat-rate shipping within Canada as well as to the US. Does eIS know the weight and dimensions of the packaged item? If not, the eIS calculator will take a guess based on the item's category and some keywords. eIS is probably calculating the shipping cost for a chair, @dhslk .
lotzofuniquegoodies
·3 months ago@dhslk Unsure if both mail and courier (UPS/eIS) are now being treated the same way but in the past with anything going by mail the tariffs were only on the item. With courier it was item plus the shipping.
This is part of what is behind higher shipping and associated tariffs. See below.
When you send a parcel through an international postal system (like Canada Post, USPS, or Royal Mail), the postage you pay is not included in the dutiable value. Tariffs, customs duties, and taxes (like GST or VAT) are calculated based solely on the declared value of the physical goods inside the package, not the total amount paid to ship them.
Watch Out For Courier Fees
Because you are using a courier (such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL), keep in mind that they will charge a brokerage or clearance handling fee. This fee covers the administrative work of processing your package through customs and is completely separate from the government tariffs and your original postage. [1, 2]
pop-art
OP3 months agoThanks everyone...
itolduandso
·3 months ago · EditedAre you enrolled into eIS in EBay? (global shipping).
In commerce where the importer is paying tariffs. It's Trump making you essentially the importer effectively by forcing you to prepay tariffs.
If you ship by UPS, Fedex etc, the standard is the buyer will pay tariffs. That is how it works on Grailed for example where UPS labels are standard and buyers have to pay tariffs plus UPS import fees which are quite significant.
Nevertheless, you are free to use your own shipper, if you use UPS/Fedex , nothing forces you to have those tariffs billed to buyer.
Ebay doesn't prohibit you to ask buyers to pay for tariffs extra and cancelling a sale because buyer didn't want to pay those is also okay on Ebay, I have done is many times even through support directly to be safe.
The statement saying "Buyers will need to pay tariffs" is for your protection, otherwise, if Trump wakes up one day and says, 200% on anything coming from Canada, your package will have a 200% tariffs slapped on it even if you use Zonos API (not if you use Zonos prepaid, in that case you are protected, personally, I never use it, headache headache too many steps I use netparcel) and if buyer doesn't accept it, you are not on the hook for lost sale and the buyer can't accuse you of non-delivery and leave a negative feedback. There is a purpose and reason.
You can mention in your listing something like this: US Buyers: All duties and tariffs are paid by me because I am obediently following Trumps rules and there will be no tariffs when you receive the item. Or whatever.
Ebay doesn't distinguish between those who have enrolled into Ebay eIS and those who couldn't or didn't want to. That complicates things a bit.
pop-art
OP3 months agoI used to use UPS as they were great - before this tariff nonsense started happening. Now ups wants to charge me $50 to ship a $20 item that is CUSMA exempt - AND part of the Berman Amendment as well. I sell records and comics and because of the Berman Amendment they will never be eligible for tariffs. The problem with mentioning things in the writeup is - the buyer never gets that far...
byto253
·3 months agoGreat question, and an ongoing one. Nothing like being knee capped.
phc64
·3 months agoWe have been asking this question for ten months to no avail.
hansatrade
·3 months agoThe same here - even if I display a large banner saying my items are tariff exempt.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·3 months agoI have in my listings a statement that we ship with duties paid postage to the US, and when I send out offers I tell buyers the tariffs are prepaid. Sometimes I get messages from buyers asking me if I know how the tariffs work because they want to buy something, but don't want a nasty surprise when it's delivered. I like getting those messages because it gives me an opportunity to privately promote my store. I wish the eBay banner would go away.
hansatrade
·3 months agoEbay should add a specifics "is your item tariff exempt? Yes / No". If you choose "No", their banner should not appear at all. We loose money, they loose FVF, too - so what this ******* banner is for?
marnotom!
·3 months agoYou’re far from the only Canadian seller with this complaint. I have no idea why eBay is posting this message, but my guess is that eBay has been legally advised that as long as there are some carriers (such as UPS and FedEx) that offer shipping methods where the carrier fronts the duties and tariffs and the importer (buyer) is expected to reimburse them, the warning has to be there to cover the area below eBay’s corporate tailbone.
eBay’s coding of the site isn’t sophisticated enough to recognize one shipping method over another when it comes to the handling of tariffs and duties, particularly as items sent through the mail system are treated differently when it comes to tariffs and duties compared to commercial carriers such as the ones mentioned above.
pop-art
OP3 months agoAll they have to do is say 'may'. simple as that.
marnotom!
·3 months agoeBay listings have had a “may” message about import charges directed to all international buyers for ages.